Biography

Jennifer Beard, PhD, MA, MPH, has been working in the field of international public health for approximately eight years. Dr. Beard is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Health at the Boston University School of Public Health, where she directs the writing program and teaches courses in professional and scientific writing. Her research interests include the health and well-being of orphans and vulnerable children in low- and middle-income countries, the social impacts of HIV/AIDS, and human resource-capacity strengthening. Her most recent work looks at the children of sex workers, drug users, and men who have sex with men in low- and middle-income countries. She has co-authored academic articles for publication on the household welfare of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, sexual risk behaviors of migrant workers in China, and a literature review on the non-clinical impacts of antiretroviral therapy on quality of life and labor productivity in developing countries. Dr. Beard is currently working with nongovernmental organizations in Ukraine, Vietnam, and Zambia to document services they are providing to the children of sex workers and drug users. In addition, she is the principal investigator of an evaluation project assessing the social impact of the Pfizer Global Health Fellows program. She completed a PhD in English Literature in 1998 at the University of New Hampshire after receiving an MA from Ohio University in 1991; she received her MPH from BUSPH in 2006. Though her current work is focused on international health, she remains a devoted reader of Victorian novels and is convinced that many of her current research interests have their roots in her passion for Charles Dickens and the Brontë sisters.

Projects

• Analysis of the Committed Communities Development Trust’s Residential Care for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS (including the Children of Sex Workers)
• Boston University Program on Crisis Response and Reporting
• Children of Sex Workers and Drug Users
• Filling the Knowledge Gap on How to Better Serve Children Orphaned by HIV/AIDS
• Maternal and Child Health Sustainable Technical Assistance and Research Initiative (MCH-STAR)
• Pamoja Together
• The Pfizer Global Health Fellows Evaluation: A Private Sector Partnership
• Understanding the HIV Prevention Needs of Highly Vulnerable Populations in Ghana

Publications